Atlanta United Academy alumni NCAA schedules and update

Earlier this year, before life was fundamentally altered by COVID-19, college coaches pushed for the evolution of their game to more closely align with the professional calendar with Fall and Spring seasons, pro-style substitutions, pro-style clock management, and additional rules and logistical changes to shift the American collegiate soccer toward consistency with FIFA rules. A little over six months later, the collegiate soccer calendar has indeed shifted to a Fall and Spring calendar but for a far different reason.

Last month, NCAA’s president announced that there will not be Fall championships for Olympic sports. The choice for individual conferences then became whether to continue with Fall seasons or to delay them until the spring. The Ivy League, Patriot League, and Western Athletic Conference all canceled their seasons outright. Of the leagues featuring Atlanta United alumni, the American Athletic Conference, Atlantic 10, Big Ten, Mid-American Conference, Pac-12, and Southern Conference chose to postpone their seasons to the spring. In spite of these postponed seasons, some of their members intend to schedule exhibition matches this fall against the two leagues that will be playing.

The ACC and the Sun Belt will have Fall seasons with some temporary omissions for this season. These two leagues heavily feature Atlanta United alumni so there will be plenty of collegiate men’s soccer this fall for fans to enjoy.

The Spring promises more soccer and potentially an additional season of matches for the ACC and the Sun Belt. The NCAA Board of Directors will meet on September 16 to vote on potential dates for competition to resume after February 3rd with preseason training being up to the individual institutions. Regular season competition will last until the end of April with the tournament coming soon after. The proposed schedule currently pencils in the Championship between May 13-17.

With these released came the first preseason rankings from College Soccer News. Atlanta United features throughout the rankings with Clemson (#3) and Wake Forest (#4) at the top of the list. Penn State (#20), Kentucky (#21), Yale (#25), NC State (#26), Pitt #28), University of California at Berkeley (#29), and Akron (#30) round out the top 30. Mercer, Syracuse, and Duke also received votes but did not crack the top 30.

Clemson University

Charlie Asensio, James Brighton

• Sept 18: Clemson v Wake Forest, 7:00 pm
• Sept 25: Clemson v North Carolina, 6:00 pm
• Oct 1: Clemson @ South Carolina, TBD
• Oct 5: Clemson v UAB, 5:00 pm
• Oct 9: Clemson @ North Carolina, 6:00 pm
• Oct 16: Clemson v Duke, 8:00 pm
• Oct 23: Clemson @ NC State, 8:00 pm
• Oct 30: Clemson @ Wake Forest, 7:00 pm

Duke University

Miguel Ramirez

• Sept 21: Duke @ Kentucky, 7:00 pm
• Sept 26: Duke v NC State, 7:00 pm
• Oct 2: Duke v North Carolina, 8:00 pm
• Oct 9: Duke @ NC State, 4:00 pm
• Oct 16: Duke @ Clemson, 8:00 pm
• Oct 23: Duke v Wake Forest, 6:00 pm
• Oct 30: Duke v Kentucky, 7:00 pm
• Nov 6: Duke @ North Carolina, 8:00 pm

NC State

Kendall Edwards, Victor Delgado

• Sept 26: NC State @ Duke, 7:00 pm
• Oct 2: NC State @ Wake Forest, 6:00 pm
• Oct 9: NC State v Duke, 4:00 pm
• Oct 18: NC State v Navy, 7:00 pm
• Oct 23: NC State v Clemson, 8:00 pm
• Oct 31: NC State v North Carolina, 7:00 pm
• Nov 7: NC State v Wake Forest, 7:00 pm

University of Pittsburgh

Bryce Washington, Brandon Clagette

• Sept 19: Pitt v Louisville, 7:00 pm
• Sept 26: Pitt @ Notre Dame, 7:00 pm
• Oct 3: Pitt @ Syracuse, 7:00 pm
• Oct 10: Pitt v Virginia Tech, 7:00 pm
• Oct 16: Pitt @ Virginia, 6:00 pm
• Oct 23: Pitt @ Louisville, 7:00 pm
• Oct 30: Pitt v Notre Dame, 6:00 pm
• Nov 6: Pitt v Syracuse, 6:00 pm

Syracuse University

Russell Shealy

• Sept 25: Syracuse @ Navy, 7:00 pm
• Oct 3: Syracuse v Pitt, 7:00 pm
• Oct 9: Syracuse @ Notre Dame, 7:00 pm
• Oct 16: Syracuse v Louisville, 7:00 pm
• Oct 24: Syracuse @ Virginia Tech, 6:30 pm
• Oct 30: Syracuse v Virginia, 7:00 pm
• Nov 6: Syracuse @ Pitt, 6:00 pm

Wake Forest University

Machop Chol, Omar Hernandez, Takuma Suzuki, Chase Oliver, Garrison Tubbs

• Sept 18: Wake Forest @ Clemson, 7:00 pm
• Sept 25: Wake Forest @ Louisville, 8:00 pm
• Oct 2: Wake Forest v NC State, 6:00 pm
• Oct 10: Wake Forest v UAB, 6:00 pm
• Oct 16: Wake Forest v North Carolina, 7:00 pm
• Oct 23: Wake Forest @ Duke, 6:00 pm
• Oct 30: Wake Forest v Clemson, 7:00 pm
• Nov 7: Wake Forest @ NC State, 7:00 pm

Georgia Southern

Aldair Cortes, Alhaji Tambadu, Jeremiah Luoma, Omar Mustafic, Sai Brown

• Sept 19: Georgia Southern @ South Carolina, 6:00 pm
• Sept 22: Georgia Southern @ Mercer, 6:00 pm
• Sept 26: Georgia Southern v UAB, 6:00 pm
• Oct 4: Georgia Southern @ Georgia State, 1:00 pm
• Oct 10: Georgia Southern v Central Arkansas, 6:00 pm
• Oct 17: Georgia Southern v Georgia State, 6:00 pm
• Oct 20: Georgia Southern @ UAB, 7:00 pm
• Oct 25: Georgia Southern @ Coastal Carolina, 1:00 pm
• Oct 31: Georgia Southern @ Central Arkansas, 2:00 pm
• Nov 6: Georgia Southern v Coastal Carolina, 5:00 pm

Georgia State

Clayton Dawes, Victor Pereyra-Zavala, Matthew Rios, Logan Luque, Alex Bahr

• Oct 4: Georgia State v Georgia Southern, 1:00 pm
• Oct 6: Georgia State @ Mercer, 6:00 pm
• Oct 10: Georgia State @ Coastal Carolina, 12:00 pm
• Oct 13: Georgia State @ UAB, 7:00 pm
• Oct 17: Georgia State @ Georgia Southern, 6:00 pm
• Oct 24: Georgia State @ Central Arkansas, TBA
• Nov 1: Georgia State v Coastal Carolina, 12:00 pm
• Nov 6: Georgia State v Central Arkansas, 12:00 pm

Mercer University

Kareve Richards, Dawson Gideon, Dylan Gaither, Mike Ille, Ousman Jabang, Brant Zulauf, Bryant Jackson

• Sept 18: Mercer @ Georgia State, 6:00 pm
• Sept 22: Mercer v Georgia Southern, 6:00 pm
• Oct 6: Mercer v Georgia State, 6:00 pm

University of Alabama-Birmingham

Blake White, DJ Benton, Owen Travis

• Sept 19: UAB @ Central Arkansas, 5:00 pm
• Sept 26: UAB @ Georgia Southern, 6:00 pm
• Sept 30: UAB @ Georgia State, 4:00 pm
• Oct 5: UAB @ Clemson, 5:00 pm
• Oct 10: UAB @ Wake Forest, 6:00 pm
• Oct 13: UAB v Georgia State, 7:00 pm
• Oct 17: UAB @ Kentucky, 6:00 pm
• Oct 20: UAB v Georgia Southern, 7:00 pm
• Oct 24: UAB @ South Carolina, 6:00 pm
• Oct 28: UAB v Central Arkansas, 3:00 pm